New thinking about local agriculture in the circumpolar Arctic – Best practices, innovations and perspectives

The conference is the tenth in line of international conferences organized within the framework of CAA (Circumpolar Agricultural Association), aimed at people involved in northern agriculture such as researchers, practitioners, administrators, managers, policy-makers and students. The conference will address a bottom-up approach and new thinking of local agriculture, food production and rural development in the northern areas. The goal is to open up and discuss versatile meanings of circumpolar agriculture and call for new thinking to address its topical challenges and opportunities. In accordance with the theme of Finland’s Chairmanship period of the Arctic Council, UN Sustainable Development Goals will be highlighted in the program. The sessions will examine among others best practices and resilient solutions in the utilization of animal and plant resources, local breeds, reindeer herding, small-scale farming and non-timber forest products. The conference will address the high quality of arctic foods, their local profitability and business opportunities. The importance of food security and sustainability in different regions and countries will also be discussed.

The conference is hosted by the Arctic Centre, University of Lapland together with the Natural Resources Institute Finland; other co-organisers are ProAgria Lapland, Lapland University of Applied Sciences, Regional Council of Lapland, Reindeer Herders’ Association and Metsähallitus.

Important dates:

16 November 2018: Date for notifications including decisions about oral/poster presentation sent to authors28 November 2018 - NEW date for author notifications14 December 2018: NEW deadline for early-bird registration fee and presenters15 February 2019: Deadline for regular registration fee13 - 15 March 2019: CONFERENCE DATES